CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Getting sucked up into a raging tornado is probably not on most of our weekend to-do lists. But Warner Bros. is hoping folks will opt for its virtual version when "Into the Storm" hits theaters.

"Into the Storm" is not just the latest disaster movie, though it embraces all of those tropes. It is a disaster movie presented as a partial found-footage affair, complete with herky-jerky shots and lots of breathy asides into the camera.

The filmmakers were apparently hoping for a "Cloverfield" meets "Twister" kind of vibe, but they came up short. Their film is neither strange enough, nor scary enough, nor thrilling enough. It also features some of the worst performances of the year.

Donnie and Trey (Max Deacon and Nathan Kress) are teenage brothers living in small town Silverton with their bummer of a dad Gary, played by Richard Armitage (Thorin in the "Hobbit" movies). Gary is the vice principal at the local high school, and his sons are shooting a time-capsule video along with that afternoon's graduation ceremony. But a big bad storm sends the students scurrying for shelter, and Donnie manages to get trapped under debris at an industrial site with Kaitlyn (Alycia Debnam Carey), the girl of his dreams.

Down the road, a team of storm chasers is embracing the bad weather. Led by Pete (Matt Walsh), the daring group travels in a Titus (a tank-like vehicle tricked up with sky-monitoring equipment and cameras) and a weather van with storm patterns splashed in ominous colors on multiple screens.

The chief weather-watcher is Allison (Sarah Wayne Callies), whose emotional hook is that she desperately misses her 5-year-old daughter back home. Allison loves her so much, she has abandoned her for three months so she could chase tornadoes with petulant Pete.

Usually, in a multiple-character drama, there is at least one person we can cheer for, laugh at, be afraid of, or somehow identify with. But "Into the Storm" offers an array of forgettable cardboard characters. It is difficult to become invested in these people or see them as anything other than calamity props.

No doubt director Steven Quale ("Final Destination 5") wanted his cast to employ a natural style, something akin to subjects in a documentary. But someone should have told him there is a difference between realism and somnambulance.

Of course, anyone digging into his or her popcorn for 90 minutes of something called "Into the Storm" is probably not seeking rich character development and world-class acting. They want to be jolted by twisters.

To that end, the final 20 minutes or so feature some pulse-quickening intensity, as computer-generated cyclones tear up trees, buildings, homes, cars, airplanes and much of Silverton (generically placed somewhere in America's Tornado Alley).

But at that point, this slog of a film has been so woeful you just kind of feel sorry for the actors having to include it on their IMDB listings. And the producers didn't even include sharks for them to be eaten by, or bother to shoot it in 3-D to juice the visuals.

"Into the Storm" may not set box office records, but it may represent a movie milestone (or future trivia question). The script is by John Swetnam. He also wrote the dance-flick sequel "Step Up All In," which also opens Friday. Has a Hollywood screenwriter ever had two movies open on the same day? Apparently, excessively wooden dialogue has its rewards.

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